The cancellation came two days after a press conference in Brooklyn to announce the Islanders' plans to move to the new home of the NBA's Nets, starting with the 2015-16 season—after the Isles' lease runs out at 40-year-old Nassau Coliseum, 30 miles to the east.

Whether the NHL's arrival in Brooklyn was related to the cancellation of games featuring NHL players was not immediately clear, but the timing could not have been more of a punch in the gut to New York fans desperate to see live hockey.

After Thursday's NHL deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement to preserve an 82-game regular season, Friday brought an announcement of games scheduled through Nov. 30 being nixed. When owners made their last CBA proposal last week, it came with a threat that NHL "signature events" would be canceled in absence of a deal.